Monthly Archives: August 2017

“I’ve been using WSJT-X and JTDX for about a month. I many cases I could have made the QSOs with CW. However, I’ve worked many more Chinese stations, presumably because they find CW hard for non-English native speakers. There have been a few cases were JT65 or JT9 enabled a QSO that would have been too weak for CW. I’ve worked a number of VKs and one ZL on 80m like that, and a few stations on 6m that would otherwise have been marginal. It’s been very successful for working South American countries on 80m – I’m still trying for Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Suriname, Guyana on 80m, for which getting up at 05:00 seems to be required. It’s the wrong time of year to try it on 160m. There seem to be very few African stations using JT modes apart from the ZSs. Pity because ZS is easily workable using JT on 80m so the others ought to be easy as well.

I’ve tried MSK144 meteor scatter on 6m during the Perseids with good results. But you often have to be patient – it might take 10+ minutes to complete the QSO because the pings might be infrequent. Using the KST chat room helps. At some stage I want to try it on 2m but need to sort out interfacing to my FT847 first.”

Given folk seemed to enjoy last meeting “Night on the Air”, we’ll do the same again. The reason it’s billed as “Drinks” is so we all get a chance to relax a bit but with a nod to health and safety, I think we can combine the two.

Feel free to bring along any portable gear to play/experiment with. There was loads of stuff last time. Just be aware there may be 100W of RF kicking about on HF which delicate equipment may not appreciate if connected to any nearby antenna.

For fun, if you have any vintage/veteran gear you might want to
demonstrate to people (not necessarily radio) feel free to bring it.
Simon ZSU and I like Tilley lamps (i.e. paraffin storm lamps) and one
came out to play last time.

In fact – bring what you like. Even if you think it maybe of no interest
to others. You may be surprised.

Start 7pm but feel free to arrive earlier to help with setup or just
enjoy the evening. NOTE I’m going to start an hour earlier than the usual 8pm as it’s getting dark earlier. Don’t feel you have to be there for that time.

If you are new to the hobby this is a great opportunity to see amateur
radio in action and have a go at operating yourself.

We may also have Woodley air cadets joining us.

Should weather preclude outdoor operations we will meet anyway as the bar will be open.

A contact between the International Space Station and youngsters at Gilwell Park, north London, is scheduled for Tuesday 8 August (next week), as part of Youngsters on the Air 2017.

The youngsters will take part in a Q&A session with astronaut Paolo Nespoli, IZØJPA, Flight Engineer of Expedition 52/53, lasting around 10 minutes.

The contact will be at 1838 UTC (that’s 1938 local time) on 2m FM, likely on the standard ARISS frequency of 145.800 MHz, and should be readily receivable using handheld Yagis, turnstiles, or even rubber duck antennas over the UK and northern Europe.

It’s “Night on the Air” so we will have a few stations set up – probably a couple of HF stations. Feel free to bring along any portable gear to
play/experiment with. Just be aware there may be 100W of RF kicking
about on HF which delicate equipment may not appreciate if connected to any nearby antenna.

Start 8pm but feel free to arrive earlier to help with setup or just enjoy the evening.

If you are new to the hobby this is a great opportunity to see amateur
radio in action and have a go at operating yourself.

With luck, we will also have a demo of an “Antenna test range”.

On the military kit side, with luck, we will also have a “Clansman”
dipole and 30-70MHz vertical antenna/dummy load atop. I suspect there will be some other “green” radios on parade.

Should weather preclude outdoor operations we will meet anyway as
the bar will be open.